Board approves transmission line project

A view of the Sandusky River at Peninsular Farms on March 27. The property includes three miles of riverfront and also is a wildlife preserve. The Hayes-West Fremont Transmission Line will avoid the property. / File photo

FREMONT – The Ohio Power Siting Board approved the proposed Hayes-West Fremont Transmission line project Monday, a decision that will result in the 138 kilovolt line being built along a route that avoids the historically significant Peninsular Farms property.

Mayor Jim Ellis said Tuesday he wrote a letter on behalf of the city asking that the Hayes-West Fremont transmission line not go through the property.

The transmission line is a $23 million project that FirstEnergy subsidiary American Transmission Systems Inc. will build and operate within Sandusky and Erie counties.

The utility’s preferred route for the transmission line will run along the Ohio Turnpike to Ohio 510 in Riley Township and move southeast into Erie County. It runs about 29 miles.

No residences would be removed for construction or operation of the transmission line under the preferred route, according to the siting board.

The alternative route was more than 30 miles in length and crossed Peninsular Farms.

Mike Powell of the Black Swamp Conservancy said at a May public hearing the preferred route of the power line would affect the area’s natural habitat much less than the alternative route.

Peninsular Farms was the site of the Whitaker Reserve — also spelled Whittaker in historical documents — home of James and Elizabeth Whitaker, the first white settlers in Ohio, according to Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center records. The land also is considered a valuable stopover site for migratory birds and is home to bald eagles.

According to a News-Messenger story in January, FirstEnergy changed its preferred line route after Peninsular Farms owner Don Miller, State Rep. Rex Damschroder, R-Fremont, and others wrote letters to FirstEnergy saying the power lines and poles would damage the property’s historical value and harm the species of migratory birds and other animals that use habitat there.

FirstEnergy never actually applied to the Ohio Power Siting Board with the Peninsular Farms plan as its preferred route, said Matt Butler, siting board spokesman.